Winter veg - purple sprouting broccoli

Planted up the winter veg - purple sprouting broccoli.  It's only a small space, so limited to what 'winter veg' I can grow without intruding into early season veg.

This year's crop was great this year and hopefully the pigeons, cats and other beasties won't destroy or damage them before they get a chance to grow.  It's good value as after picking the initial flowering head, secondary shoots appear.

Last ditch attempt

Planted up some mixed chard in both the square garden and my salad box. As not much has been growing this year due to the bad weather and large numbers of snails perhaps this will survive!

I seem to be more successful at growing butterfly food as the Large and Small Whites have taken a liking to my purple sprouting broccoli that I planted earlier this year.

As butterflies are having a hard enough time this year I just left them to it.  More nasturtiums needed next year to distract them.

Purple sprouting success

It's finally getting ready to harvest and my most successful cropping so far.  I think my previous attempt didn't even produce this much.  Only a few plants in a small space but something useful to grow over the winter.

Mangetout Planted Up

Planted up a couple of rows of mangetout in the new raised bed.  They'll be more easily accessible and don't grow as tall as the runner beans, so may be easier to reach and harvest - as and when they get going - if the slugs and pigeons don't get them first!

A New Raised Bed

Busy planting up this weekend and assembled a new raised bed - bought in kit form from the garden centre - deeper than the last one, which was starting to come apart and slightly smaller - this one being square rather rectangular.

Lined and filled with soil, compost and a good helping of well rotted horse manure along with coffee grounds, gleaned from a local coffee stall.

It's in the same place as the last one, at the bottom of the garden which makes the most of the afternoon sun and is where I intend to grow the beans this year ... there's still time to get them planted.

The new wicker containers on the patio, planted up with courgette and cucumbers.  Gooseberries are fruiting well in a pot at the back (it really needs to be repotted at the end of this year!).

Chilli peppers are planted up in the pots to the left.

Getting started in the garden

Out into the sunshine to start work and get ready for this year's planting.

I've bought two planters specifically for this year's crop of veg - in addition to the square foot bed which despite being overgrown is still being used as a cat litter tray.

Emptied out the pots from last year, including the growbag and used the soil to fill one of the wicker planters.  It's quite deep, so probably too deep for salad crops but I'm sure I'll find something to go in it!

Last year's salad box is looking a little weather beaten, so may not be used this year.  I've got some spare wood left over from the replaced compost bin which might do instead.

The other planter is even bigger - ideal for runner beans and of course I'll need somewhere for cucumbers and tomatoes.

As ever, great expectations for what to grow this year - what actually crops over the summer depends on slugs and snails, cats and the weather.

Planting Day Today

Having had a clearing the patio and sorting out pots day yesterday, today was the day to get planting and sowing. Cold out but clear blue skies and warming up nicely.  I even had to dig out my shorts.

In pots are:
- tomatoes - three plants - possibly Italian plum and Beefsteak but can't be totally sure as they came in one of those selection trays and weren't individually labelled.
- Lemon apple - a small round yellow cucumber
- Yellow zucchini - planted up in a mix of compost and well rotted manure, so let's hope they grow well this year.
- Sweetpeas - outside the kitchen window for their scent
- Chilli pepper

This year in the raised veg bed:
- Broad beans, mangetout and beetroot. Quite intensely planted a la 'square foot' method.

There's still space in the middle for something ... swiss chard maybe? Well covered to protect from both the cats - thinking it's a marvellous litter tray and the pigeons thinking it's a tasty snack.

The disadvantage of encouraging birds to come into the garden - especially the pigeons!  I think they've already had a go at a couple of the tomato plants which have been stripped of leaves.

Also planted seeds for:
- Rocket and spinach - in the 'salad crate' - another potential litter tray
- Courgette - ever hopeful
- Ridge cucumber - they were delicious last time but limited in number.
- Squash - little gem and butternut
- Nasturtium
- Basil
- Coriander

The seeds are now inside until they germinate and it's a little warmer for them to go outside either in the ground or in pots.  Although I'm already running out of pots and wondering just where the rest will go.  It also gives me a chance to see which one's actually germinate as most of the seeds are a little old. In fact so old Noah probably had them on the Ark.

My gooseberry twig from a couple of years ago has grown.  In fact, so much so that it's grown through the bottom of the pot.  I daren't heave it up and replant it at this stage - especially as it has a few flowers on it.  Might get a few home grown gooseberries this year!

Quite excited by the prospect of all this potential produce.

Planning for 2009

It's time for the garden to get going again. Having been on Twitter today and had a few 'tweets' from other gardeners out there, I'm feeling inspired. The weather is most definitely getting warmer and things are springing back into life. I'm not usually one for planting seeds out, so unlike some who have planting since early in the year, I'm only now thinking of what to plant.

I've dug out my plans from last year and the planting guides and I'm making a list of what I'd like to grow this year. Again, I'll be using the square foot garden concept and perhaps extending it by a foot or two, so I've got a bit more space to play with. It will be the usual array of things that are quick and easy to grow and are suited to a small space - salad vegetables, beans and maybe a few exotics like peppers and squash.

Cats will still be a problem and no doubt I'll be waging war on the slugs and snails again but if we have a better summer perhaps they won't win this time. I read something today that if you water in the morning any slugs will be less inclined to come out than if you water in the evening and are more likely to get eaten by birds. I haven't yet cleared the SFG to save the unpleasant task of having to clear up every few days after the neighbourhood cats decide to use it as their toilet.

Right, ready to get planning and planting.

A Bean!

Finally, I have a runner bean!

After a pretty disappointing slug and snail laddened summer, my last remaining runner bean plant has finally managed to produce a couple of beans. The final sprig of flowers was far enough up the plant that the pesky little slimy critters having chomped their way through all the other foliage, probably didn't bother going any further so the plants that are left have a few leaves at the top.

Next year needs a concerted effort earlier in the year to stop them taking over.

Mean Green Chomping Machines

The Square Foot Garden is having a hard time this year - what with the wind, rain, cold and generally un-summer-like weather and then to top it all, I walked out this morning to head off to an early morning meeting to find an array of snails all over what's left of the runner beans. After I'd been away for a couple of days, I came back to find some of the plants had been reduced to just stalks. They've been slowly demolishing them and as fast as I pick them off, the quicker they appear. I spent a quick five minutes picking them off and added another dozen or so to the bucket and a few more when I returned a couple of hours later. It's going to have to be a daily vigil while I desperately try to coax enough to survive so that I get at least a few runner beans this year - but it's not looking too hopeful.

The mangetouts never got going and have totally disappeared. The lettuce I planted out a couple of weeks ago have amazingly enough survived quite well so far and are growing fast.

Beans Are In

Finally planted up the SFG having cleared out the cat cr*p. They basically ignored the carefully laid trellis and just did their business right on top of it. Already picked the first of the mangetouts before they even got in the ground. They certainly live up to their name of sugar peas - nothing beats picking them straight off the plant.

Have also planted up two rows of runner beans. Let's hope they're more successful than last year and don't get blown about too much - mmm, maybe the wind will blow the snails off! The wind hasn't let up for almost two weeks but at least we've now had some rain as although the veg is looking OK, the rest of the garden is pretty dry. Sprinkled some cat pellets all over the area in an attempt to discourage them. I think barbed wire, search lights and an armed guard patrolling the perimeter is the only solution.

Preparing The Ground

Cleared out the SFG this afternoon and sifted a few barrow loads of compost to mix in and top up the soil. I've covered the whole lot with plastic trellis in the hope that it might discourage the cats.

Still very windy today, so I haven't planted out the beans and hope it drops in the next couple of days.

Need More Beans

Well, four runner bean plants isn't going to give me much of a crop, so I've just picked up some more from Louvain Nursery just up the road, together with some mangetout plants. The SFG needs clearing as I haven't had anything to plant in it up until now and was hoping that leaving the existing plants gone to seed and weeds would at least discourage the cats.

Runner Bean Seedling

Well, so far one of the runner bean seedlings is starting to force it's way to the surface. Fingers crossed that it's not going to be the only one! I'll then decide where to plant them, back in the square foot garden again or in one or more of the pots/tubs. The SFG will be better as there's more room for them but I'll need to cut back a lot of the surrounding vegetation to make it easier to get to and hope that they don't suffer as badly from snail attack as they did last year.

Tidying Up

I cleared out the square foot garden of all the bean poles and carefully covered it up with netting, knowing full well that the local neighbourhood cats would be delighted with the large litter tray that had now appeared. And so they were. The netting didn't deter them in the slightest - they just did their business right on top of it.

Little b*****s

Tidying Up

Spent the day clearing up the square foot garden and the rest of the vegetables plants. Took down all the bean poles and what was left of the bean plants which had been attacked by the snails. The plants in the pot by the back door survived better but they were planted later and not as easily accessible by the snails The cats of course are delighted with the large litter tray which I've now created for them!

The chard is still growing away and definitely didn't like the hot summer and it's looking much happier and healthier now. There are still a couple of beetroot in the ground which I haven't pulled yet.

The tomato plants didn't do very well. They look as if they've got wilt so all the plants have been bagged up to take to the dump rather than just putting on the compost heap. This also reduces the likelihood of me finding little tomato plants popping up everywhere next year.

September Update

This month has started dry and sunny after a dry but variable August.

I'm starting to harvest the runners on a fairly regular basis now - they're growing rapidly but I'm also actively picking off all the snails - large and small, that I can find, to prevent them totally ravaging the poor plants to just their bare bones. The one's I planted in a pot by the house are also doing well and after Cliff's comment that 95% of what he's harvested so far is water, I'm making sure that I water every night, as we've not had any rain for days, although as it's now cooler, there's often a morning dew.

The chard in the SFG has recovered and is now growing properly, although I've not yet picked any. I get a bagful in my veg box each week. It was suffering from the sun earlier in the year (when we had some) and seemed a bit stunted.

The salad crop is still growing well, so lunch is an easy shopping trip across the patio, although the tomatoes are taking their time to ripen. They've taken a bit of a battering from the wind as I wasn't quick enough pinching out the side shoots and most plants have at least two main stems. Not exactly as the purists would grow them but then they're vine plants so I'm really leaving them to grow in a more natural way. The sungold that I was growing in a hanging basket is looking a bit sad as it dries out too quickly and yet another tomato seedling/plant is now growing in with one of the courgettes. These aren't doing too well. Surprisingly, falling foul of the slugs and snails, like most things this year, despite their prickly leaves.

My squash plant is finally taking off although no sign of anything that might be turning into a squash as yet. It's being allowed to start rambling over the old bench outside kitchen window. It's sheltered from the wind and might last well into the autumn.

The chilli pepper has lots of small fruits on it but they seem to be growing only slowly and are still green in colour. The whole plant is fairly small and I don't know if it's just a small variety or restricted by the size of the pot it's in.

I've now defrosted the freezer ready for whatever produce I may have left over, which will probably only be the runner beans, as the rest of the harvest is slow in cropping and just about enough for a meal every now and then.

Amazingly enough - my blueberry has a few flowers appearing. Must be as confused with this weather as the rest of us.

Carrots - Seeing Double

I wasn't intending to cultivate a crop (slight exaggeration) of double carrots but that's what I appear to have done.

My extensive crop of three carrots was plucked from the ground this evening, just before I watered everything this evening as their tops appeared to be extruding even further out of the soil, so I guessed they might be ready.

Highly amused to find I had three interestingly shaped carrots.

Admitting Defeat ... At Least With The Beans

Well, I've finally give up on the idea of growing my own beans from seed and last weekend I bought a selection of plants to replace the failures, my 'Last Man Standing' finally got munched in the week. It was either that or miss out having anything this year.

Due to the restricted space within the one foot squares - it makes for a bit of a squeeze when planting. This is something to consider when creating your SFG in the first place and when planting it up. You need to be able to get to each of the squares fairly easily, so need access from all sides. Either that or practice your flexibility and balance by stretching across from one side to the other or standing on the edge boards.

It's now planted up with Runner beans and French beans I got from the Springwatch Event last weekend. It's a bit blustery out there, so they'll need a little persuasion to climb up the poles as they get started but once that's done, they should be off and climbing. I've got all of three beetroot seedlings and just three tiny carrot seedlings, oh and I think there's one Ruby Chard emerging.

I don't know whether it's just not been a good year for seeds, with a mix of sun, rain, wind and cold or if I'm just not good at seeds! I also realised that the purple sprouting broccoli haven't emerged either. Probably too late in the year to plant more of them now. I think I'll definitely start seeds off in pots first next time.

There are a few hopeful looking plants coming up in the salad trough, in the sections where I planted salad, rocket and spinach. Time for the next lot to go in to keep the succession going - not that there seems to be much for them to succeed.

There are two lovely new flowers on the larger of the courgette plants and lots of small courgettes coming through pretty quickly, so I'll be keeping an eye out for those pesky snails

I've had to move the tomato plants around. The Ailsa Craig was looking very sad so I've replanted it in a separate pot and replaced it with one of the rapidly growing seedlings of unknown variety. The two of them are looking far healthier than the one's I bought at the garden centre.

More snails collected and dispatched to the park.

Last Man Standing

My one remaining French Bean plant. I'll try hard to preserve this one and hope that the replacement seeds that I planted out come up soon or I'm going to have lots of space in the square foot garden. I've just liberally sprinkled Slug Stoppa around it to stop the slugs or snails munching the poor thing to pieces.

The beetroot and carrot are finally poking through and there's a variety of seedlings in the chard, radish and salad plots but I haven't worked out what's what.

Still no sign of the runners and mangetout ...